Neither in Adelaide or here in Melbourne have I seen any begging except by a couple of blind men, although there are a good many ragged, barefooted urchins running about in the vicinity of the railway stations selling evening newspapers. There is, however, an obvious overcrowding of the folks who ought to be in the country into the towns; and really it is not to be wondered at, seeing how many of those who come out here are entirely unused to and unfitted for a country life, and especially life in a new country. Which, of course, accounts for the lack of development of this amazing continent. The converse of this equally accounts for the advance of Canada, in that she welcomes those who have never known anything but the hard and grinding life necessary for wresting from wild nature the wealth that she holds in trust for the children of men, and who learn with a surprise that it takes much time to mitigate, that their earnings will not be snatched from them by force and fraud--who have looked, indeed, for nothing else but just the barest means of existence as the result of their incessant, terrible labours. Australia will have none of these, and as a consequence that mighty land is as yet barely scratched. Of what use can it be to advertise for farmers with capital to come to Australia and take up rich lands at a low price, if the labour to till and develop those lands is not to be had except at a price that precludes any idea of profit?
I make these remarks in no carping spirit, but when I see that there is a general tendency in the Press to grumble at the fishing being in the hands of Italians, and gardening in the grip of the Chinese, while at the same time talking of the wondrous wealth of the country awaiting development, I am filled with wonder at the curious turn of mind that imagines that you can keep a vast continent in the hands of a few people and yet exploit its resources--a process which they know can only be accomplished by much manual labour. The results which have already been achieved by the few are a sufficient proof of the amazing richness of the country, but with a sufficiency of the white labour which is craving for work and bread in the old countries what a mighty uprising of this great Commonwealth we should see! The cry now is all for population, but no provision is made for the obtaining of the proper kind of population--people that are willing to work, and are all unused to or demoralised by city life, but lack the means of crossing the immense distance which separates them from the starvation of the old land and the plenty of the new.